I’m sure you already have comfortable shoes.  You don’t have to go and get special walking shoes, unless you want to, of course.  Some people like to listen to music or books while they walk, so you might need a CD player, iPod, MP3 player, or something similar.

If you haven’t done any walking for a while, well, other than the normal day to day stuff, start small.  Don’t go too far from home at first, don’t take the long trails at the park just yet, etc.  Go out and walk around the block.  Don’t try to run yet, walk at a comfortable pace.  Find your limitations first.

After you are comfortable, and walking is easier, you can take longer walks around the neighborhood. Go to a park, take the long trail you have been wanting to see.  Make sure you increase your speed while you are increasing distance.  Even better go to a national park and take the scenic route.  Never go farther than you are comfortable with.  Yes, push yourself, but if you can’t get back to your home or car, then you’ve gone too far. You want to be walking to lose weight, not beat yourself silly.

If you don’t enjoy walking, there are some things you can do to take your mind off the fact that you are actually walking.  Different people find different things enjoyable while walking.  Some like to just look at nature, these people should walk in parks, or anywhere outdoors.  Some people enjoy people watching, go to the mall and walk, walk around neighborhoods.  Some people need more stimulation while walking.  Listen to music, make sure it is upbeat so you don’t walk too slow.  Listen to books on tape/CD.  Fiction, non-fiction, self-help books, everything is available in sound now. Start walking with a friend or group of friends.

So the bottom line is, find what works for you.  Start slow, gradually increase your speed and distance over time.  Keep yourself occupied so you don’t even realize you are walking to lose weight. Before you know it you will be dropping pounds and losing inches.

Strengthen those muscles.  Doing weight bearing exercise in addition to walking burns through almost twice the fat just walking does.  Add some squats or lunges to put the extra pressure on the thighs, hips and butt, you don’t even have to use weights, just use your own body.  You can do this while you walk, or any time you have the chance.  Make sure you don’t do it more than every other day, this gives the muscles time to recover, and get ready to burn more fat.

While you walk, add some extra bursts.  If you put on some extra speed for a few seconds, you can burn fat even faster.  High intensity intervals during exercise burns more than twice the fat.  Just put on some speed for a few seconds (or longer) then walk normally until you get your breath back, then do it again.  This will really kick up your metabolism and help you burn calories, even when not walking.

Walking and losing weight can help in all sorts of ways.  You will lower your risk of breast cancer, stroke, depression, colon cancer, diabetes, heart attack, it can even help with the symptoms of PMS and menopause.  Exercise boosts your body’s natural defenses.

Make sure you are eating enough.  You need at least 1200 calories a day to keep your body working properly.  Having too much will make you gain weight, but having too little will do the same.  No, I’m not kidding, eating too little will make you gain weight.  Your body expects a certain number of calories each day to maintain itself.  If it gets too much, it stores it because it doesn’t know what else to do with it.  If it gets too little, it stores it because it thinks it needs to save it for emergencies.  Your body doesn’t understand that we can just run to the store and get food.  It thinks we are going into a famine, and won’t be able to get food for a while, so it stores the fat away until we need it.

Drinking plenty of water is a great weight loss tip, too.  I know, it seems if you drink more water, you will weigh more, and retain more water.  Believe it or not, drinking more water keeps you from retaining water.  Just like the food, if your body doesn’t think it is going to get enough, it will horde it for emergencies.  Water also flushes the impurities out of your system so your body doesn’t decide to store them since it doesn’t know what else to do with them.

Build up those muscles, add some intensity, eat plenty of food, and drink plenty of water and you will be well on your way to losing all the extra weight on your body.